Post by tarbe on Jul 20, 2016 3:21:10 GMT
My son and son-in-law to be are both entering new stages of life this fall, and I thought it would be a great time for an "out of the box" adventure.
So I asked them if they'd be game for a backpack hunt into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. They both said YES!
This offer and acceptance took place in January...so starting in February I began training in earnest, to get in shape for this outing.
The boys are both young (24 and 27) and the elder even does Iron Man Triathlons...so no big worries there.
Dad was typically overweight middle-aged desk jockey...so I had a lot of work to do.
Previous experience hunting this country had taught me there is no better way for a flat-lander to train than to don a pack and start humping. You have to work to find inclines, but they are out there.
The thin air is something you just have to acclimate to, once in the country. Takes me a couple days. Usually by the time I am coming out, I feel like a Mountain Goat.
Since February I have done right at 700 miles of pack work, and have lost 35 pounds. I now weigh only 5 pounds more than I did when I was discharged from the Marines in 1980. I am on my second pair of new boots. Bought a pair in Feb and by May 1 the soles were worn flat in several places. REI gave me a new pair for free...they insisted! Said they should have lasted longer than 450 miles!
We will be crossing the Salmon River at Corn Creek. The trail gains 5,000 feet of elevation in the first 6 miles. That keeps the riff-raff out!
We will be setting up a base camp 16 miles into the wilderness area, at Black Lake. If we drop an elk, I will call an outfitter that works the general area and he will send a muleskinner and mule to carry out the elk, once we have it quartered. That way we can stay out hunting vs spending days packing meat out on our backs.
The boys are hoping to supplement our food with fresh trout from the lakes up there.
Anyway, less than 2 months to lift-off, and looking forward to an adventure! Idaho has really cheap bear, lion and wolf tags, as they hope hunters will thin the predators when they bump into them (doesn't happen often, but it happens).
We will have dying jack rabbit calls and coyote howlers to get their attention...well, maybe! There is a reason not many of those predators get shot!
We are fully prepared for this to be a nice walk in the wilderness. If we are blessed with a critter or two, so much the better.
So I asked them if they'd be game for a backpack hunt into the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. They both said YES!
This offer and acceptance took place in January...so starting in February I began training in earnest, to get in shape for this outing.
The boys are both young (24 and 27) and the elder even does Iron Man Triathlons...so no big worries there.
Dad was typically overweight middle-aged desk jockey...so I had a lot of work to do.
Previous experience hunting this country had taught me there is no better way for a flat-lander to train than to don a pack and start humping. You have to work to find inclines, but they are out there.
The thin air is something you just have to acclimate to, once in the country. Takes me a couple days. Usually by the time I am coming out, I feel like a Mountain Goat.
Since February I have done right at 700 miles of pack work, and have lost 35 pounds. I now weigh only 5 pounds more than I did when I was discharged from the Marines in 1980. I am on my second pair of new boots. Bought a pair in Feb and by May 1 the soles were worn flat in several places. REI gave me a new pair for free...they insisted! Said they should have lasted longer than 450 miles!
We will be crossing the Salmon River at Corn Creek. The trail gains 5,000 feet of elevation in the first 6 miles. That keeps the riff-raff out!
We will be setting up a base camp 16 miles into the wilderness area, at Black Lake. If we drop an elk, I will call an outfitter that works the general area and he will send a muleskinner and mule to carry out the elk, once we have it quartered. That way we can stay out hunting vs spending days packing meat out on our backs.
The boys are hoping to supplement our food with fresh trout from the lakes up there.
Anyway, less than 2 months to lift-off, and looking forward to an adventure! Idaho has really cheap bear, lion and wolf tags, as they hope hunters will thin the predators when they bump into them (doesn't happen often, but it happens).
We will have dying jack rabbit calls and coyote howlers to get their attention...well, maybe! There is a reason not many of those predators get shot!
We are fully prepared for this to be a nice walk in the wilderness. If we are blessed with a critter or two, so much the better.